The New One-Armed Swordsman

Rating:

8

The One-Armed Swordsman was a good, arty swordplay epic with a lot of character focus. The sequel ditched the character stuff and focused on bloody sword fights. This third film in the series is on par with the second. Apparently Jimmy Wang Yu was tired of acting with an arm tied behind his back so the title character has been replaced with David Chiang (who can at times look the spitting image of Barack Obama). So, reboots are not a new thing. This attempt to restart the franchise is okay but misses what made the original a classic. The whole story as to why he lost his arm is completely changed and you never feel like it is as tragic a loss. From the get go he is doing magic waiter tricks and there is not sense of growth as a character or a fighter. All this is a moot point once you get to the final act. The battle on the bridge is spectacular and well worth the wait.